|
EPA proposes methane emission regs New rule for new, modified oil & gas industry equipment & gas transmission systems forms part of president’s Climate Action Plan ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new regulations that would limit methane emissions from oil and gas industry operations, the agency said Aug. 18. The mandatory rules in the regulations would complement voluntary methane emissions efforts from the Methane Challenge Program that the agency proposed at the end of July and which Petroleum News reported in its Aug. 2 issue. The regulations would apply to certain types of new, modified or reconstructed equipment used in the industry.
The regulations, a key component of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, are needed to help achieve a goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, EPA says.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the more common focus of the global climate change debate. Methane is processed and transported in large volumes in association with the natural gas industry, as well as being produced and used in conjunction with oil production.
Mandatory requirements EPA says that the proposed regulations will mandate the finding and repairing of methane leaks; the capturing of natural gas from the completion of hydraulically fractured oil wells; the limiting of emissions from new and modified pneumatic pumps; and the limiting of emissions from several types of equipment used in natural gas transmission compressor stations. However, certain types of pumps, pressure relief devices and connectors used on the Alaska North Slope are exempted from routine monitoring.
The agency says that its proposed regulations would also update existing new emissions source performance standards, to address methane emissions as well as the volatile organic compounds that the standards already cover. And the regulations would require industry to reduce both volatile organic compound and methane emissions from hydraulically fractured and re-fractured oil wells. The regulations would also target reduced volatile organic compound and methane leaks from the natural gas transmission sector, while also clarifying and streamlining Clean Air Act permitting, EPA says.
EPA’s proposal also includes guidelines for the reduction of volatile organic compound emissions from existing oil and gas sources in certain areas where ozone emissions exceed required standards, including in 11 mid-Atlantic and Northeast states that form what is referred to as the Ozone Transport Region. Volatile organic compounds are associated with ground-level ozone in health compromising smog, EPA says.
EPA says that it anticipates its proposed regulations driving a reduction of 340,000 to 400,000 short tons in methane emissions in 2025, a volume equivalent to 7.7 million to 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. In that year the emissions reductions would result in climate benefits of $120 million to $150 million, net of the costs associated with the regulations, the agency says.
As with other aspects of the Obama administration’s regulatory actions over greenhouse gas emissions, the proposed EPA regulations have triggered a variety of responses.
“The EPA’s proposal to curb methane emissions is unnecessary and will do more harm than good,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “It’s in everyone’s interest to reduce methane leakage. That’s one of the reasons why industry has taken steps to reduce methane emissions by 38 percent since 2005 while natural gas production has vastly increased. Instead of more regulations that will only hurt production, the administration should follow the (Energy and Natural Resources) committee’s lead and promote bipartisan initiatives that focus on improving our energy infrastructure, which is an important step forward to reducing methane leakage.”
“Without strong action to reduce methane emissions, there is a real risk that natural gas will be seen as part of the problem, rather than as a bridge to a low-carbon future,” said Andrew Logan, director of the oil and gas program at Ceres, a sustainability advocacy nonprofit organization. “We believe that the regulations announced today are therefore in the long-term interest of the industry, as well as the U.S. economy as a whole.”
Comments on the proposed regulations must be filed within 60 days after the regulations have been published in the Federal Register.
| 